As we all know, social media and other outlets have become a huge means of drawing in interaction and viewers for WWE. Most people will point to television ratings like they did during the Monday Night Wars in the late 1990’s, however that can be skewed with so many various means of watching today that do not include cable television.

As you’ve become accustomed to, here is this week’s SmackDown Live YouTube Report (2:30 PM EST, 6/21/18):

1. Asuka confronts Carmella & James Ellsworth – 1.5 million views
2. Rusev vs. The Miz (Gauntlet Match) – 910k views
3. Jeff Hardy “sees” Shinsuke Nakamura now – 749k views
4. Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe (Gauntlet Match) – 648k views
5. Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz (Gauntlet Match) – 569k views
6. SAnitY debuts and leaves The Usos laying – 566k views
7. Daniel Bryan vs. Big E (Gauntlet Match) – 408k views

A better week at the top of our leaderboard as the opening segment for the blue brand clocks in at over a million views, unlike last week when 921k was good enough to be number one. I’ll probably get some grief over this (in my position you have to get used to it as best you can), but Carmella’s got a lot of momentum right now. Call it “go away” heat all you want and I’ll continually tell you that you’re incorrect. Asuka’s also been a player as well, but I do think Ellsworth too gets a little bit of credit just to see what he’s up to in his return. Why do I say this? Out of everything that happened at Money In The Bank on Sunday, his return would have been good enough for fourth on a YouTube Report. Before I get misconstrued, I’m not calling James Ellsworth a YouTube draw. Just that I believe there was some interest in his return to SmackDown Live.

The vast majority of the SmackDown Live broadcast was dedicated to the main event, a WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match which occupies spots two, four, five and seven. You may find it interesting that Daniel Bryan’s involvement in the match is actually NOT what comes in at the second spot, however its taken up by the finish of the match and that’s my explanation for it. Rusev gets arguably the biggest win of his career, earning his chance at AJ Styles’ WWE Title at Extreme Rules. What’s surprising is Bryan’s decline. The only sense of it I can make would be if you see that he’s in clips with multiple opponents, perhaps there’s no need to check them out since you know he’s the one advancing. Just a theory.

The man at number three is our United States Champion, pulling in a pretty good number for what was merely a backstage promo, albeit a pretty exciting one for the WWE Universe. ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ brings back his old facepaint and eye contacts, looking more like Brother Nero and it definitely got people buzzing, which I believe is reflected here.

Finally, the long awaited debut of SAnitY slides in at number five after being called up to the main roster two months ago. I know that people have been displeased with it taking so long and reportedly, they were basically called up without any plans. Everyone loves a debut, but I don’t see SAnitY becoming a weekly draw anytime soon. Not unless they’re working with a “heavy hitter”, but it doesn’t seem like SmackDown Live has a consistent one lately.

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